R&R: Bart to the Future

[IAMHOMER]

There was a thread on this on GD in November, but judging from some of the bottom 25 lists from those who contributed to it, this episode seems to have gone down in quite a few people's estimation since then (if that is possible). Anyway, my review:

In addition to having lousy jokes, possibly the emptiest Bart/Lisa conflict ever and a plot with barely even the vaguest semblance of a point or purpose, this is probably the most lazily written episode ever. Little or nothing is done with the future setting, with most characters just vaguely changing their appearances with the same voices as before (to hear the 38 year old Ralph still talking like a retarded second-grader is particularly painful, and even Bart looks more like a lazy college student than a 40 year old), the script is unimaginative using the same tired recurring jokes ("Smell ya later", "Relax, you'll live longer", "Dude", "You used to be cool") and the main storyline consists of essentially little more than OFF and other Springfieldians in the same setting as other present-day episodes (albeit 30 years later) without the wonderfully imaginative futuristic gags that made Lisa's Wedding so compelling, with the added gimmick of Lisa as president and Bart as a drunken loser (hardly innovative stuff).

And people who think it is being unfairly derided by comparing it to Lisa's Wedding are missing the point. Even without that classic it would still be regarded as a pretty crappy episode on its own merits (or lack of), and the very fact that Lisa's Wedding was made is emblematic of just how unoriginal and uninspired this episode is, basically recycling previous elements from its predecessor - Lisa being successful, Bart in some dead-end job, the ending with Lisa and Bart walking off in the sunset being an almost exact replica of the Homer/Lisa ending (which was, needless to say, infinitely more touching) - without adding anything meaningful or even funny.

So, while not the worst episode ever (KTAAR, Alone Again, Natura-Diddly, The Mansion Family and A Tale of Two Springfields are worse than this IMO), a definite bottom 10 contender.

Grade: D-


(Cue people springing to its defence and saying "it's not actually that bad", "3/5", etc.)

[Imperciph]

There was a thread on this on GD in November

Yep, I made one asking people why did they think it was so terrible.

(Cue people springing to its defence and saying "it's not actually that bad", "3/5", etc.)

Its actually not that bad, 3/5.

Nah, I kid. Agreed entirely with your review. The episode's flaws are that it is so damn bland, its jokes about the future are as unimaginitive as possible, its character conflict being of such shallow predictable degree not even found in fanscripts and the fact that itself has to have a captain wacky subplot in order to support the extremely thin conflict which itself isn't resolved properly. Bart's characterisation has no charm at all, he truly acts like the son of jerkass Homer. The whole episode just reeks of immaturity and lazy writing. The best thing Lisa's Wedding did was to show us that the family had grown, here the children act like children even though they are adults now. A disgraceful episode. D+

[IAMHOMER]

So where did the "+" come from? I'm guessing that you thought the opening wraparound was just about passable (despite the killer mosquitoes bit).

[Imperciph]

So where did the "+" come from? I'm guessing that you thought the opening wraparound was just about passable (despite the killer mosquitoes bit).

The "+" comes from a few no. of gags that I enjoy: the Gabbo reference from Krusty Gets Kancelled, the "crazytalk" line, the revelation that Donald Trump was the previous president (for some reason I find that hilarious ). That still doesn't stop this episode from earning a no. 20 spot in my worst episode list. Mind you, I have only given 10 episodes D-'s.

[FuriousGeorge]

One thing gets me in this episode is, why didn't they have Maggie speaking and doing something with her life, instead of "baby Maggie"?

Very so-so episode.

[garret]

Well this episode was very lazily written, and there are continuity errors like the fact that Bart is in his early 40's and still is very immature and how the hells is he going to become a supreme court justice by the time hes 52? Well future continuity errors are to be discussed another time, maybe farther down my post. Well as for the the episode the characterisations are crummy the jokes are bad and the plot is very thin, the people are not aged right, Ralph still has the same voice which doesnt sound right and instead of having a full head of brown hair he should have had his normal hair or at least blue or purple like his parents plus he and Bart age wise look at least 5 years apart but in reality they only have a two year age difference. That tacked on sub plot about Lincoln's gold sucked. it is just not very good episode however it is not nearly as bad as future drama and it had a few OK jokes so I give it D.

[grissom]

Offensively bad. Worst piece of trash the show has ever produced

[Willmak5389]

C

Hah! A post with just one letter!

[Nightshade]

Not very funny, the oppurtunity of an episode set in the future was wasted. The plot is very thin and Ralph sounds like he's still 8. D

[Drunk Barney]

3/5 B-

Very enjoyable. Lisa becoming a president was a good idea, I liked Bart and Marge was good. Homer was a bit jerky though. It's one of these episodes, I'd rather never happen, like The Principal and the Pauper, despite enjoying them.

[AngryDad33]

B+ Good episode, I also liked the cameo by Gabbo in this episode.

[Sarcastic Guy II]

I give it a generous B-.

[Inamon]

Why did they have to place the subplot? It had a stupid conclusion and was weak in its departments, and was certainly un-needed. As for the episode, it's far too unrealistic, has some awful, disjointed plots, has some really, really risky characterisations that are bland and useless, and the episode simply fails for all I know.

F.

[Kiyosuki]

Ahh Bart to the Future.

There's things I liked and things I really didn't like.

I liked..
-The future premise is always very interesting to me, I love possibilities of going forward in a "timeless" series.
-Some of the quips about the future were amusing. The Soylant Green ref, Third World War, that funky News laser thing Bart shoots himself with. Nothing too out there or smooshed in your face like the later Future-Drama.
-I liked some of the "future" character designs. I didn't mind Bart's design, it actually I think went with him a bit (though he totally should have had a muzzle), the brief appearance of some of the grown up kids near the end was fun too since you had to point some of them out. I really dug how Ralph looked and acted in this, actually ironically seeming more mature than most of his peers (but still not beyond occasional flashes to the his awkward child phase. Yes, it was what my last Avatar was based off of too.).
-The way this scenerio is told is kinda neat.

What I didn't like..
-Lisa as President. I mean yeah...its kinda cool that she'd end up that successful and probably become the pride of Springfield but...isn't that going kinda far? The President of the United States?
-I think this should have stuck with Bart more. It was his story afterall. I think the President storyline was kind of unecessary. A mere mention would have sufficed even. Just seemed to convolute it.
-The sub plot really was pretty unecessary and boring. They have only so much time to tell a pretty ambitious story. I mean..its the future. Lisa's Wedding just barely managed to fit all that stuff in without a subplot.
-Part of what made Lisa's Wedding fun to watch is to see what became of some of the characters later. Aside from Ralph the grown up kids all felt like they were 30-40 year old versions of their child selves (ironically huh?). Especially Bart. Him going through a junkie phase is kinda neat but he just totally didn't feel like a guy who lived 20-30 years past 10.
-God...that subplot with Marge and Homer really, REALLY was unecessary. It has to be said again, thinking about it.
-I dunno...it just doesn't feel like they took advantage of the premise as much as they could have. It was basically Bart redeems himself, while Homer does some crazy hijinks and Lisa complains about how no one's taking anything seriously. Its stuff we could see in a "normal" episode for the most part.

I don't hate it as much as some others. In fact I think its one of the "ok" eps of 11. Not great, just in the middle. I think there's some great ideas and fun to be had buried underneath a kind of messed up plot. C for me.

If this had kept the President thing for maybe another episode and stuck mostly to Bart I think it would have gone better. It at least aged the characters more imaginatively than Future Drama design wise though (though Bart was great and interesting in that).

[Speedy Boris]

I dunno... they actually made quite a few future jokes in this one, but the problem is very few of them were funny. A lot of them felt forced. It also lacked the visual variety of Lisa's Wedding, where many aspects of the future looked quite different. In a way, despite taking place farther in the future, Bart to the Future actually looked like a more normal future than the one in Lisa's Wedding, which is just wrong.

About the only future-based jokes I like are "What a bleak and horrible future we live in" and Lisa commenting that she's the first straight female U.S. president.

Overall though it's one of my least favorites from season 11, and certainly from the show in general. It had none of the emotional center that Lisa's Wedding had, and it just plain wasn't funny.

[Kiyosuki]

Thing is though is I kind of liked how it wasn't an out of control future. I mean this isn't 3 centuries in the future its just a couple of decades. Then again though we actually see very little of the world around Bart, most of this takes place at familiar locations and well...the White House. So its hard to tell.

Future Drama just went insane with the futuristic stuff. I can deal though if it works with the episode but this had other things going against it.

[Inamon]

Yes. Future-Drama was da insane. There was the 'hovercraft' going through the wall, as well as some other weird jokes (Homer under the sea? You killed it). However, this episode was complex. While more realistic than "Future-Drama" (in ways), the episode was simply a prediction, while Future-Drama was more of the fun filled way.

[Kiyosuki]

Yeah some of it was a little bit too crazy, like dimension travelling tunnels (I'm guessing thats a reference to Buckaroo Banzai...though they probably just wanted an excuse to put Bender in there too. lol) and magic. As long as it works for the episode though its fine...it can even be kinda cool in a "lolwhatever" way. My only gripe with Drama isn't so much how futuristic it was but the fact the futuristic stuff was smooshed into our faces almost every scene and every moment possible bar a few. I thought the ep was generally ok though aside from that and some other things, but this is going off topic.

[Green_Peaness]

I used to think it wasn't all that bad until I realized there's absolutely nothing good about it. Then I realized how incredibly easy the episode is...Lisa is president, Bart mooches off her, Homer wants to find gold. It offers nothing and there's no point in watching it. One of the bottom five of all time. F

[The Governor]

The only laugh I got out of this beside the "WTF was that!?" variety was the "Oh, that's just Crazy Talk!" joke. Otherwise, a solid D-.

[Slug]

"Oh, that's just Crazy Talk!" joke. Otherwise, a solid D-.

yeah pretty weak episode. that joke might of been the highlight of the episode.